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National Parks of the Great Basin
The Great Basin The Great Basin is a 220,000 square mile area that covers nearly all of Nevada along with parts of Utah, California, Oregon and Idaho. This area is so named the Great Basin because of its hydrology and geologic situation, it is bordered by the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, the Mojave Desert and the Columbia Plateau. The Mojave desert can be considered just below the Great Basin or by some, John Hudson being one, it makes up the southern end of the basin. The water in the Great Basin does not flow out to the sea, John Hudson describes the Great Basin as "not a single drainage basin in which all rivers drain toward a common low point of topography but rather a collection of dozens of such basins, few of which are tributary to any other" (p 331). Water here flows into lakes, sand and marshes, watersheds or as a result of the arid climate, eventually evaporates, all water that falls within the Great Basin stays within the Great Basin unless influenced by humans (nps.gov). Sitting in the rainshadow of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains the climate is that of a temperate desert where summers are hot and dry and winters are snow covered. Basin and Range Basin and Range topography covers much of The Intermountain West, including the Great Basin. The Basin and Range province begins in Mexico and extends northward to the Snake River Plain and Oregon's Blue Mountain Range where it ends (Hudson, p 333). The province can be characterized by a series of block-faulted mountains and sediment filled basins. These fault systems have stretched earths crust and mantle, up to 100 percent of its original width, "the upthrown side of these faults form mountains that rise abruptly and steeply, and the down-dropped side creates low valleys (nps.USGS.gov). The Basin and Range province includes more than 150 separate ranges of low mountains. Erosion and weather of the mountains sends sediment traveling down into the valleys where it accumulates and when moved by streams or thunderstorms deposited sediments form alluvial fans or bajadas (Hudson p 333). Great Basin National Park Great Basin National Park was first established as a national monument in 1922 and did not get national park status until October 27, 1986. The park covers 120 square miles in the eastern part of Nevada near the Utah border. There is little human settlement in this region, the closest community is a small town nearby called Baker. Elevations in the park range from 5,000 to 13,000. At the highest elevation in the park and the second highest in the state of Nevada is Wheeler Peak at 13,063 feet. The only glacier in Nevada and one of the southern most in the United states is located at about 11,500 feet on Wheeler Peak. In the 8,000 feet of the relief within the park there are five different ecosystems that exist in the temperate desert (Harris p 665). These range from the sagebrush and pines of the desert floor to the bristlecone pines that can be found at the edge of the tree line in an ancient forest that is now being protected. The variation in elevation also helps to contribute to the variety of animal and plant life that call the park home. With in the park boundaries 11 species of conifer trees, 73 species of mammals, 18 species of reptiles, 238 species of birds 8 species of fish, and over 800 species of plants can be found (nps.gov). Due to the high salinity of the soil and limited water resources plants in the park have had to be highly adaptable. Part way up Wheeler Peak are the Lehman caves, a series of caves featuring many dripstone features (Harris 670) and over 300 rare shiled formations (nps.gov). The caves are names after the land owner who discovered them and led tours through the caves for the rest of his life. Lehman Caves National Monument eventually became Great Basin National Park. The park also features a 75 foot natural arch formed from eroded limestone called Lexington arch. People of the Great Basin The Fremont Indians are among the first to humans to settle this region in modern times (nps.gov). According to John Hudson the Mormons were the first Euro-Americans to settle in the Great Basin arriving to the region in 1847. Their society was primarily based around agriculture and located in Utah. Nevada, since the frontier days, has been known for its saloons, brothels and casinos (Hudson p 339). Until the mid 1960's Nevada was the nations least populated state with communites built around ore deposits and later casinos. Today Las Vegas is know for its entertainment scene of the mega casinos as much as for the availability of gambling. Mojave Desert Located at the southern end of the Great Basin at 282 feet below sea level, the Mojave desert is home to the Death Valley the lowest elevation in the United States (Hudson 342). Like Great Basin National Park, Death Valley is also comprised of block-faulted topography and sits in a rainshadow as well and is a series of basins of interior drainage and environmental gradiations based on elevation. Other Basin and Range Parks Joshua Tree National Park- California Death Valley National Park- California and Nevada Mojave National Preserve- California Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument- Arizona Lake Mead National Recreation Area- Nevada Sources Harris, Ann G. Tuttle, Esther. Tuttle, Sherwood D. (2004). Geology of National Parks. Sixth Edition. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. Hudson, John C. (2002). Across This Land: A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Geologic Provinces of the United States. http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/province/basinrange.html Great Basin National Park official website. http://www.nps.gov/grba/index.htm National Biological Information Infrastructure: Great Basin Project. http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt/community/what_is_the_great_basin/619 National Park Service: Tour of Park Geology.http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/tour/basin_ra.cfm Group 5